A BIRMINGHAM father-of-seven was going nearly twice the speed limit when he crashed his high-powered motorbike into the back of a car and died, an inquest heard.

A BIRMINGHAM father-of-seven was going nearly twice the speed limit when he crashed his high-powered motorbike into the back of a car and died, an inquest heard.

Pub landlord Carl Picken, 41, was heading home after work at the Railway Inn, West Bromwich, when he crashed his 1000cc Suzuki at 5.10pm on July 10 last year.

Mr Picken, whose children are aged three to 24, had passed his motorbike test less than a week earlier, Black Country coroner Robin Balmain heard on Tuesday.

The inquest into Mr Picken’s death, held at Smethwick Council House, was also told that 33-year-old Andrew Clift, of Halesowen, was pulling out of Credenda Road, onto Bromford Road, in his BMW at the time.

Mr Picken, of Cuthbert Road, Winson Green, was taken to Sandwell Hospital where he was certified dead.

PC Mark Dixon, a collision investigator based in Aston, said examinations of CCTV footage indicated that Mr Picken had been doing an average speed of 51mph in a 30mph area. There was also footage of Mr Clift correctly checking the roads before he pulled out.

Mr Balmain, who ruled Mr Picken’s death was due to a road traffic collision, said: “The circumstances of Mr Picken’s death are made abundantly clear by CCTV footage.

“He left his pub and turned onto Bromford Road and had accelerated to quite a high speed after a short distance – whether that was excitement about having recently qualified to ride we don’t know.

“But CCTV allows PC Dixon to tell me what the speed was and Mr Picken was riding substantially in excess of the speed limit. I’m perfectly satisfied the driver didn’t see him and this, I regret, is not an uncommon situation.”